The Weekly Download

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Cathy Feingold, the Director of the International Department at the AFL-CIO, and Jeffrey Vogt, Rule of Law director of the Solidarity Center, live from the International Labour Conference in Geneva. Watch now to learn more about the issues being discussed at the conference, such as the platform economy and informal work, and why they matter to American workers and worker power. Also, listen to Vogt and Feingold discuss the importance of maintaining global labor standards that protect workers' rights.”

“Labor unions around the US rallied together on Monday to demand the release of a labor leader arrested and injured during Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) raids in Los Angeles. David Huerta, president of Service Employees International Union California and SEIU United Service Workers West, was serving as a community observer during an Ice raid in Los Angeles on Friday when federal agents arrested him over allegations of interfering. He was initially hospitalized and released later on Friday for injuries sustained during the arrest. Videos circulating online show officers shoving Huerta to the ground during the arrest before handcuffing him.”

“When President Trump removed Gwynne Wilcox from her seat on the National Labor Relations Board, he left the Board without a quorum. Since that time, the Board has been legally incapacitated: it cannot fulfill its statutory function of adjudicating unfair labor practice cases. At the time of Wilcox’ removal, I argued that by incapacitating the Board in this way, Trump may have suspended Garmon preemption – the doctrine that prohibits states and cities from regulating conduct that is either protected or prohibited by federal labor law. Incapacitating the Board suspends Garmon preemption because Garmon preemption is all about deference to the administrative capacity of the Board.”

“Governors are uniquely able to advance an economic agenda that reflects the needs of the working class, giving them the opportunity to illustrate a contrast with the Trump administration, whose policies favor billionaires at the expense of working people. They can do so through a variety of policies and executive actions designed to build the power and raise the pay of everyday Americans. For example, they can expand labor rights and allow workers to negotiate on an even playing field with large corporations, strengthen minimum wage and overtime protections and enforcement, and ensure that government spending creates good jobs. These actions would be good for workers and represent a progressive economic vision that counters the Trump administration’s anti-worker actions that have effectively halted workers’ ability to hold corporations that violate workers’ union rights accountable; shuttered the agency that protects everyday Americans from bank scams; broken contracts and revoked the bargaining rights of unionized public employees; and fired thousands of park rangers, emergency response staff, and other public workers who rely on their paychecks to get by.”

“Millions of workers are illegally underpaid in America, and experts say the problem is about to get worse. A new report by the Workplace Justice Lab @ Rutgers University and Northwestern University reveals that the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), already working with a skeleton staff of investigators for many years, just hit its lowest headcount since at least 1973. The report warns that insufficient staffing could hinder enforcement of existing wage protections and lead to more wage theft. At the same time, deportation fears are driving many immigrant workers further into the shadows, fearful to show up for work or speak up about mistreatment. The report warns that struggling industries could face labor shortages and American workers could feel the effects.”

“On May 23, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) released its FY 2026 budget proposal. There are many things about the document that don’t add up. The new leadership proposes a $14 million budget cut from an agency that has been woefully under-resourced for more than a decade. The proposal acknowledges that the NLRB will lose almost 10 percent of its staff through the recent “fork in the road” resignation program and its push for voluntary early retirements, but predicts it will somehow successfully complete more cases with less money and fewer people. While this mystifying math alone is enough to raise concern, the document is hiding a more subtle policy change that should raise alarm bells for anyone who cares about workers’ rights."

“General Motors announced yesterday it will invest $4 billion over the next two years across three U.S. plants in Michigan, Kansas, and Tennessee—bringing thousands of good union jobs back to the U.S. This announcement marks a turning point in the long fight to reverse the damage caused by NAFTA and decades of so-called ‘free trade.’ As auto tariffs help drive the return of production to the U.S., we’re beginning to undo the harm inflicted on blue-collar communities by policies that offshored jobs and gutted local economies. By raising wages at GM globally, this shift signals the beginning of the end of the race to the bottom—where workers are forced to compete across borders over how little they can survive on, while corporations rake in billions.”

“Employers are increasingly using algorithms and digital devices to control workers. As a new Human Rights Watch report puts it, ‘Workers around the world are increasingly hired, compensated, disciplined, and fired by algorithms that can be opaque, error-prone, and discriminatory; their faces, office badge swipes, email exchanges, browsing histories, keystrokes, driving patterns, and rest times are scanned to monitor performance and productivity.’ My research shows how this “algorithmic management” not only affects working conditions, but also expands the capacity of employers to subvert the efforts of workers who wish to organize unions for better treatment and to increase their power in the workplace.”

“More than two years after voting in a union, the 220 workers at TCGplayer, the eBay-owned online marketplace for trading cards, hoped they might be getting close to securing a first contract. Instead, they’re fighting to save their jobs. On May 22, the company abruptly announced that it was shuttering its Syracuse, New York, authentication center and moving operations to Louisville, Kentucky. Spurred by unfair discipline and low pay, workers at TCGplayer became the first U.S. eBay workers to organize a union, joining Communications Workers Local 1123 in a March 2023 vote. According to a CWA report released last year, 60 percent of workers at the Syracuse center earn less than $19 an hour—and nearly 90 percent earned under $21 an hour. eBay brought in $2 billion in profits last year.”

“A shining light within the U.S. labor movement over the past several years has been the rising wave of unionization and militancy among graduate workers, whose labor helps prop up the entire system of U.S. higher education. Tens of thousands of graduate workers have unionized over the past half-decade at institutions like Stanford, UChicago, MIT, Duke, Minnesota, and many more. According to one study, as of January 2024, around 38 percent of graduate student employees were represented by unions, with over 150,000 graduate workers across 81 units. Grad workers across the U.S. have also engaged in militant protests and strikes not just over recognition and contract fights, but also to oppose attacks on the Palestine solidarity movement. Many graduate unions see their mission as not merely to secure gains around bread-and-butter issues, but to fight for social justice and to defend liberatory values of higher education in the face of the neoliberalization and militarization of universities.”

“This episode brings together Joanna Wuest, Brittani Murray, and Jaz Brisack to discuss how queer organizers build community within their workplaces to support civil rights and social justice movements and share strategies for building power to defend workplaces and vulnerable communities, as we witness increased attacks on the rights and safety of LGBTQIA+ people, especially transgender individuals, at the same time as an unprecedented assault on all workers’ rights.”

“For good or for ill, there is without a doubt more Magic (The Gathering) in the world than ever before: more Magic sets released each year; more forums for crafting decks; more tournaments; more card drops; an ever-present opponent to play against thanks to the digital version of the game, Magic: The Gathering Arena; and more Magic nights at local game shops. As Hasbro and its subsidiary Wizards of the Coast bring in record-breaking revenue through continuously expanding the commodification of our hobbies, workers at New York City’s local game shops have taken a stand by unionizing. In doing so, they are fighting the persistent anti-union narrative that to do work one is passionate about is adequate compensation unto itself.”

“What do arts faculty in New York City and bacon processing workers in Wichita, Kansas have in common? I asked ChatGPT this question, hoping for some connective thread for this article, and it spat the following back at me: ‘They both spend their days transforming raw material into something people either deeply savor or completely misunderstand. (And neither gets paid what they’re worth.)’ An apt parenthetical, as the answer I was coming around to was that they voted in the two largest National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) elections in May: one at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City, and the other at Dold Foods, a bacon processing plant and Hormel subsidiary in Wichita.”

“In October of 2022, over 100 workers represented by five labor unions, including production, distribution, advertising and accounts receivable staff, walked off the job on an unfair labor practice strike at the storied publication the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The strike began after the newspaper’s management, Block Communications, which is owned by the Block family, cut off health insurance for employees on October 1 of that year. After more than 2.5 years on strike, with other unions reaching contracts or taking buyouts and dissolving their units, workers represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh are the last remaining strikers holding the line. We speak with a panel of union officers for the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh about how they’ve managed to stay on strike so long and about recent legal updates that have given them hope that an acceptable end to the strike may be on the horizon.”

“A union representing thousands of workers at Kroger and Albertsons grocery stores have voted to strike. After five months at the bargaining table, the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) 3000 union voted to reject their employers’ latest contract by more than 97%. The union represents nearly 30,000 grocery employees at Kroger-owned stores like Fred Meyer and QFC, and Albertsons-owned stores like Safeway.”

“Dozens of delivery drivers employed by Breakthru Beverages, one of the largest alcoholic beverage distributors in the U.S., have officially gone on strike in Orlando and five other major cities throughout Florida. The strike, which kicked off yesterday, was launched over allegations of unlawful firings and the company’s failure to make meaningful concessions on wages, healthcare and a secure retirement plan during union contract negotiations, a Teamster told Orlando Weekly.”

“New Jersey Transit’s train engineers have overwhelmingly approved a tentative deal that ended their three-day strike last month that halted service for some 100,000 daily riders, including routes to Newark airport and across the Hudson River to New York City. The agency and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen announced the results Tuesday. They said the seven-year agreement, covering the years 2020-2027, was supported by 398 members, while 21 voters rejected it. NJ Transit’s board of directors is scheduled to vote on the agreement when they meet Wednesday. Details of the contract have not been released, but the union said it includes a ‘significant pay raise’ and addresses other issues for the roughly 450 engineers who serve the agency. The main sticking point during negotiations had been how to accomplish a wage increase for the engineers without creating a financially disastrous domino effect for the transit agency.”

“Two months after voting for the right to strike, union workers at Mayo Clinic Methodist campus in Rochester approved a new three-year contract. The vote was unanimous among the 600 SEIU health care workers. Mayo Clinic officials said in a statement late Friday that they were pleased to have concluded negotiations with members, which include sterile-processing technicians, patient escorts, surgical techs and maintenance workers, among others.”

“The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1445 voted on Friday, June 6, to accept a new three-year contract with UMass Memorial Health, just two days before the current contract expired. It passed by a narrow margin, with record membership turnout at the Maironis Park Banquet Hall in Shrewsbury, said Jack Kenslea, the union’s political director. The final tally wasn’t immediately available. ‘Obviously things were left on the table, but the gains got enough members to decide it was worth ratifying the contract,’ said Kenslea. A UMass Memorial Health spokesperson confirmed the agreement in a prepared statement, and said it goes into effect on Monday, June 9.”

“A nurses' strike that could have disrupted operations at Southern Ocean Medical Center on Monday has been averted after union leaders agreed to a tentative deal that will increase staff ratios and boost pay and benefits, according to the union. The Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE) Local 5138, which represents 350 nurses, voted at the end of May to strike on June 9 if a deal was not reached with Hackensack Meridian Health. But both sides announced Sunday that a walkout would not occur. A hospital spokesman said a ratification vote will be held on June 11.”

“The American Postal Workers Union and the U.S. Postal Service have reached a tentative Collective Bargaining Agreement, announced APWU President and Lead Negotiator Mark Dimondstein. The proposed union contract is three years in duration: September 21, 2024, through September 20, 2027. The Tentative Agreement was finalized on June 2, 2025. In accordance with the APWU Constitution, it was presented by the National Negotiations Committee (NNC) to the Rank and File Bargaining Advisory Committee on June 4, 2025. The Rank and File committee unanimously approved the Tentative Agreement for a ratification vote of the members. The Tentative Agreement has the unanimous approval of the NNC and the full support of the National Executive Board.”

“Hollywood video game voice and motion capture actors and video game studios reached a tentative agreement on Monday with new conditions for the interactive media contract, pending review from the actor guild's national board. A press release from Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) detailed the deal following the almost year-long strike centered on artificial intelligence (AI) protections and wage increase.”

“Employers often use workplace tracking apps to monitor frontline home health care workers, such as personal care aides, home health aides and certified nursing assistants. A team of Cornell researchers is exploring how these technologies can be used not to surveil workers, but to help them build solidarity and improve their working conditions. The study, ‘Exploring Data-Driven Advocacy in Home Healthcare Work,’ received a Best Paper award at the Association for Computing Machinery’s Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’25), which took place April 26-May 1 in Yokohama, Japan. The project included researchers at Cornell Tech, the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science (Cornell Bowers CIS), Weill Cornell Medicine and the ILR School.”